Brexit round-up: Brexit Bill receives Royal Assent

Brexit Bill receives Royal Assent

The Queen has given Royal Assent to the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, allowing the government to formally trigger Article 50.

The Bill was approved by MPs this week following discussions in the House of Commons and House of Lords.

May has said that Article 50 will be triggered by the end of March as planned, beginning the process of exit negotiations.

Interest rate remains at 0.25%

The Bank of England (BoE) has held the interest rate at 0.25% while also maintaining its stock of government bond and corporate bond purchases at £435 billion and £10 billion respectively.

CPI inflation continues to rise, increasing to 1.8% in January 2017, with the BoE predicting the rate to rise above the 2% inflation target over the next few months.

Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“With the MPC close to exhausting the monetary policy tools available to them, the government must do more to support business confidence and incentivise investment, particularly by tackling the rising input costs faced by businesses.”

Firms unprepared ahead of triggering Article 50

Around a third (44%) of businesses have still not prepared plans ahead of Theresa May triggering Article 50 at the end of the month.

According to Anaplan, firms are not ready to deal with the economic impact of Brexit and continue to rely on outdated, disconnected methods for planning.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t an approved script for how to cope with situations such as Brexit or the impeding triggering of Article 50, but businesses can and should model and plan for multiple future scenarios and be ready to course-correct their strategy.”